Straight as a Shoelace
by YingYang890
Summary: After a heartbreaking summer romance, Jane has sworn off dating; however her sudden declaration is not met with the response she expected. "Well, I'm not interested in boys anymore." "So does that mean you're into girls?" "Wait, what?" "That's hot."


Title: Straight as a Shoelace

Summary: After a heartbreaking summer romance, Jane has sworn off dating; however her sudden declaration is not met with the response she expected. "Well, I'm not interested in boys anymore." "So does that mean you're into _girls_?" "Wait, what?" "That's hot."

Chapter 1

During the Summer of my sixteenth birthday, I, Jane Moore, experienced the joy of a first boyfriend and the humiliation of a first breakup, all in an entirely different country.

Honestly, I should have realized at first glance that he was the type of boy to never commit, that he was a player, through and through. However, I had never been in a relationship before and without realizing it I had become caught up in his smiles, flattered by his lavishing attention.

I was so blinded in my joy that I didn't realize that he winked at other girls the same way he first caught my attention. I was never as special to him as he was to me and I realized that all too late.

I knew that my vacation to Australia, which started as a trip to visit my archaeologist parents, would end soon. It took me days to gather up the courage to confront my boyfriend-, well, _ex-_boyfriend, only to find out that while I occupied his days, his nights were spent frolicking with other girls.

Other, more, _voluptuous_ girls.

I felt a vein twitch as I watched one of his arms wrap around the waist of a bikini-clad blonde while the other caressed the hair of an attractive brunette. When he leaned in intimately to whisper something to the blonde, eliciting a giggle, my rage finally fueled me to approach him from my hiding spot.

"Jane!" his eyes widened at my sudden appearance, his arms immediately retracting from the girls in surprise.

"Dakota." I responded with tight lips, gaining little satisfaction as I watched him attempt to usher the other girls away with a dashing smile. I only ever called him his full name when I was upset and this situation definitely warranted that.

"Who is _that_ girl, Dake?" the brunette whined, refusing to budge from her spot next to him and instead opted to clinging to him like a leech.

I grounded my teeth in frustration and sneered, "_I'm_ his _girlfriend_."

At that moment, the blonde's eyes widened in understanding, "So you are his little fling thing this Summer."

_What?_ I felt my jaw drop in indignation. _Fling thing?_

"Yeah." the blonde responded with a haughty smile, "You are only staying in Australia for the Summer, right? Did you expect him to maintain a long-distance relationship with you after you leave or something? Come on, you should know Dake isn't the type for that. Right, _girlfriend?_"

My mouth went dry at her comment as I turned to Dake for confirmation, and I felt my heart pummel to my feet at his sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry, Jane." Dake said, "It was fun while it lasted."

_What the_... I felt my hand clench as the two girls giggled at my expense, tears threatened to spill out of my eyes, but I'd rather eat a sea slug than break down in front of those harpies. Then, before I even registered what I was doing, I was already inches from Dakota with my fist planted smack on his left cheek.

Deafening screams sounded around me but I ignored it with a bitter smile, "Yeah? Well here's something for you to remember this _fling thing_ by."

Then I ran away like the coward I was.

"Gragh!" I allowed myself to collapse onto my childhood friend's immaculately neat bed with a 'fwump', effectively crumpling the bedsheets.

Not long after my disgraceful display, I felt large hands encircling my elbows in attempt to pull me up from my prone position, "Jane, stop messing up my bed!"

My lips pulled out into a pout as I shrugged off his hands and pulled on the blankets to cocoon myself within, "Gosh, Viktor, can't you treat a heart-broken, young lass better?"

"Heart-broken?" Viktor pulled back from me, his expression incredulous.

Just then, the door to his room slammed open, revealing my other two childhood playmates whom I had arranged to meet with.

Iris pulled up a chair from the desk and nodded with a carefree smile, "Apparently, Jane had a Summer fling when she went to Australia this break, but they broke up a week before she had to leave."

Upon hearing the word 'fling' I felt myself groan as I smothered my face into the pillow, "I don't wanna hear it." which probably sounded more like "Ahg daough waghnghwa ehergw igwha." to outsiders.

While I was laying limp on the bed hoping for it to miraculously fold in half and dispose of my body into an alternate universe, anywhere but_ here_, Justin, Iris' brother sniggered at me, "Who would have expected this Jane Doe to actually snag herself a man!"

I felt myself frown at his words as I turned my head to glare at the snot-nosed jerk, "Whatever! Better than you, who just stares at pixelated girls on your computer screen all day!"

"Don't act like you haven't ever drooled over those pixelated boys in your girly online dating sims!"

"You-!" I tried lunging at the grinning butt-face but was held back by the entangling blankets. Why did I ever think wrapping myself up like was a good idea? However, by the time I was free from my restraints, I had significantly calmed.

Raising my nose in the air, I gave Justin the stink-eye, "Well, I'm not interested in boys anymore!" What I had meant, was that I was no longer interested in _dating, _but at the time I didn't see the difference in those statements.

During the week after my break-up, I had holed myself in my room like a love-sick puppy. Half seething over Dakota's playboy nature – _how dare he treat me like some disposable spoon, to be used _

_once then dumped away! _– half hoping that Dake would come banging on my door and beg to have me back. By the day it was time for me to take the international flight home, Dakota hadn't even called once and I had sworn off dating.

"So does that mean you're into _girls?_"

Justin's words broke me out of my reverie and I stared at him blankly, barely registering his words, "Wait, what?"

"That's hot."

_What a perv, _I rolled my eyes at his smirking face, no doubt daydreaming about some disgusting fantasy, and accidentally caught the eye of Viktor. Is that _disappointment_ I see in his eyes? Before I could question him about it though, Iris suddenly grabbed my hands and started ranting something along the lines of "accepting me for who I am" and how she "wouldn't stop being my friends".

At the time, I had just shrugged off their overreaction as a joke, after all, they couldn't really think I was gay! I was just as boy-crazy as the next girl, drooling over pixel men and screaming my head over boy-idols.

I should have known better.


End file.
